New ocean and air freight data reveals major shifts in global trade routes

Melbourne, Australia: Major disruptions in the Red Sea have triggered one of the largest realignments of global shipping routes in recent years, with Asia-Europe maritime capacity plunging by 33% from 2023 to 2024, according to new data from routing solutions provider Fluent Cargo.

The analysis reveals widespread changes across global trade corridors. Despite capacity reductions, the Asia-Europe corridor remains the world’s busiest maritime route, followed by Asia-North America.

“The massive rerouting we’re seeing around the Red Sea highlights why unified data is critical,” said Andrew Greig, Fluent Cargo CTO.

“When disruptions occur, organisations need a single source of truth about alternative routes, real-time tracking, and capacity impacts. More organisations are needing to consolidate essential data in order to quickly identify and execute the most efficient alternative routes.”

In air freight, the Chicago O’Hare-Anchorage corridor leads global routes with 25,317 tons weekly capacity, highlighting Anchorage’s crucial role as North America’s primary transpacific cargo hub.

Key findings include:

Asia-West Africa trade dropping from 6th to 11th place as vessels reroute around Africa

Rise in regional shipping networks, particularly in Asia

Strategic capacity reductions across all major maritime routes

Strong domestic air freight corridors in Japan and South Korea

TOP 5 AIR FREIGHT ROUTES (Q4 2024) By weekly cargo tonnage:

Chicago O’Hare ↔ Anchorage

Haneda ↔ Fukuoka (Japan)

New Chitose ↔ Haneda (Japan)

Hong Kong ↔ Anchorage

Gimpo ↔ Jeju (South Korea)

TOP 5 MARITIME TRADE LANES (Q4 2024) By TEU capacity:

Asia – Europe

Asia – North America

Asia – West Coast South America

Far East – Middle East

Intra-regional – Far East

“These shifts in global trade patterns demonstrate why static routing strategies are no longer viable,” said Archival Garcia, Fluent Cargo CEO.

“Shippers are being forced to adapt quickly to disruptions and increasingly need to make data-driven decisions about their cargo movements. Shipping rates and share prices are being driven down by decreased global demand. The post-Covid recovery volumes are gone and customers are frustrated with lack of information and uncertain costs. The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency will further affect trade.”

These data insights come as Fluent Cargo expands its routing solutions with a recently launched multimodal tracking service. The company has also established new partnerships with DP World and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.